During ten days in September 1976, David Leroy Washington went on a bone-chilling crime spree across Miami that included torture, kidnapping and three murders. After turning himself in, Washington insisted on confessing to all three murders and pleaded guilty.

On September 20, 1976, Washington and an accomplice, Johnnie Gary Mills, stabbed to death a minister, David Pridgen. Three days later, Washington broke into the house of Mrs. Katrina Birk. After binding Mrs. Birk and her three elderly sisters-in-law, he shot and stabbed each of them, killing Mrs. Birk and inflicting severe injuries upon the others.

Finally, on September 29, Washington kidnapped Frank Meli, a 20-year-old college student, and tied him to a bed with the help of two accomplices, Mills and Nathaniel Taylor. After an attempt to extort ransom money from Meli’s family failed, Washington stabbed him to death.

On October 1, 1976, Washington surrendered to Dade County police after his two accomplices were arrested for the murder of Meli. He voluntarily confessed to the crime in a lengthy statement to the police. On November 56, against his court-appointed attorney’s advice, Washington confessed to all three murders. After a jury trial, he was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death.

On June 13, 1984, Washington was executed. In his final statement, Washington apologized to the victims’ survivors saying, “I’m sorry for all the grief and heartache I have brought to them. If my death brings any satisfaction, so be it. I’d like to say to all the guys on death row, don’t bow to defeat, don’t bow to victory, don’t bow to a defeat without a fight. I’m kind of nervous. That’s all.”

Johnnie Gary Mills was tried and sentenced to life in prison, as was Nathaniel Taylor.